Thomas says Beckman will return next season

Published 12:00 am, Sunday, November 30, 2014

CHAMPAIGN - There will be no drawn-out period of wondering whether or not Tim Beckman will return to coach the University of Illinois football team next season.

Beckman will be back.

Sunday afternoon, Illinois athletic director Mike Thomas announced that Beckman will be with the team next year.

Thomas made the announcement after a season of speculation about whether the Illinois football coach would be fired. But on Saturday, Beckman secured his job with a 47-33 win at Northwestern.

Saturday’s convincing victory made the Illini (6-6, 3-5 Big Ten) bowl eligible in Beckman’s third season and apparently signified the kind of progress Thomas said he needed to see in the football program.

“It was important to see improvement in our football program this season,” Thomas said in a statement Sunday. “Over the last month, we have won three of our last five games, including a pair of Big Ten wins over teams (Minnesota and Penn State) who are headed to the postseason.

“Our student-athletes have played their best football of the season down the stretch of a tough schedule that included nine bowl-eligible opponents.”

Illinois is 12-24 under Beckman. The team’s bowl destination is undetermined.

Beckman took over at Illinois after Ron Zook was fired following a 6-6 season in 2011. But Zook’s team finished with six straight regular-season losses. This year’s Illini finished with three wins in their last five games.

The Illini started this season 3-1 with victories over Youngstown State (28-17), Western Kentucky (42-34) and Texas state University, sandwiched around a 44-19 defeat at Washington. But once the Big Ten season part of their schedule got under way, the Illini dropped three straight to Nebraska, Purdue and Wisconsin before a 28-24 Homecoming Game victory over Minnesota.

Then came back-to-back losses to Ohio State and Iowa, before the Illini ended the regular season with the victories over Penn State and Northwestern.

“It’s my expectation that with the upcoming bowl and another off-season of development,” Thomas said, “that Tim’s continued leadership will keep Fighting Illini Football moving forward and even more competitive in the conference and nationally.”